frolic

January 13, 2017

Cruise Day 5 - Grand Cayman

I'm trying my best to get these cruise posts finished!

Day 5 was my favorite day of the entire trip. Grand Cayman. It was also towel animal day (where they make a ton of towel animals and put them all over the Lido deck). I knew we didn't have anything scheduled and it was just going to be the Hubs and I.

We did know this was a tendered port so we went ahead and got up and ready to go in plenty of time. The water in Grand Cayman was the most beautiful I have EVER seen. I thought it was clear and nice at Grand Turk 2 years ago but this was better.

After navigating the junk at the port, we found a cab driver that would take us for $4 a person to the Royal Palms, along 7 Mile Beach (the island is only 8 miles if that tells you anything!), which is a private resort that has an area people from the cruise ships can come to for food, pool and beach. It only costs us $2 each to enter so that was also a plus. We were worried it would be packed but it was not bad. We found a nice spot in the sand and set up shop. We swam, rented snorkel gear and saw lots of cool fish and just chilled. It was nice to be off the boat and still relaxing. I remember very vividly this day that I was out in that clear blue water, just floating. For a long time. I couldn't hear anything and I couldn't see anything (I closed my eyes). I didn't have a care in the world. This was THE MOST relaxed I think I have honestly ever been. And it was AMAZING.

The staff here was nice and the bathrooms were super clean. They also had a swim up pool and bar that we never even went to. Oops. Too much time in the ocean.

We hopped on a cab back toward the port. As we rode, the driver told us some things about Grand Cayman. It's a very rich place. A gallon on milk there is like $8, gas was $6 a gallon. Goodness. It was nice but I'm not sure we could ever afford to visit or live there.

I will say that Grand Cayman was beautiful. Everyone we talked to on the cab and later had a pleasant experience. Some people in our cab had done a Carnival excursion where they put a submarine helmet type thing on you and you walk along the ocean floor and get to see all kinds of cool ocean life. She went on and on about how wonderful it was.

We made it back on the ship a little early since we wanted to make sure we grabbed a tender (we didn't want to get left behind, even though it wouldn't have been terrible...).

We showered and got ready for another awesome dinner. We also got to see some amazing scenes as we set sail.

Oh, and this is why you take a Carnival excursion and not a private one. They will wait on you if the excursion is late. We had already set sail and stopped for not one, but TWO boats to tender out to us with guests. Yikes!

This was by far my absolute favorite part of our entire trip. I don't even remember what we ate or what we did that night but I remember that beach and water like I was just there yesterday. Soooooo relaxing.